Preveza, Greece

25.03.2024

On Monday, we started our day with a nice tour of the city , by the marina bay. The weather was rooting for us and for the parade, since it was the National Day of Greece. After watching the parade, the locals thought us some traditional dances and we discovered on our own the streets of Preveza. In the afternoon we went on a nice walk to the beach where we cleaned the shore and played a traditional game called Abali. We finished our adventure by eating out in the city. We jumped into conclusions and learned key abilities about team work, social tolerance and inclusion. 

26.03.2024

Second day. Thursday. It was perfect from all aspects. We met up with the group after breakfast and walked together to the Greek’s school. There, we made even more friends, and listened to the presentation and history of Preveza. We also learned quite a few ecological and environmentally-friendly manufacturing techniques for cosmetic products. After a quick stroll through the gorgeous city centre we went back to the school, this time to see experiments and share between each other aspects of our culture. Everybody learned new dances and a lot about traditional greek  cuisine, thanks to the hospitality of the hosts. We finished the night on the beach front and quickly went to get some rest, in in order to have energy for the next day.

27.03.2024

The third day of the project was dedicated to history, culture and most importantly exploration. After meeting up with every country and discussing what we thought of yesterday's workshop where we made cosmetics such as soap and face creams from natural ingredients, we were headed by bus to the beautiful archaeological sight of Ancient Kassopi. Apart from admiring the beauty of nature, reflected through the infinite sea that was surrounding the mountain that we were on and the green field decorated with millions of white and yellow flowers, which made us realise just how important is it to preserve natural land such as this, we had the chance to walk through and explore the ancient ruins of the greek civilization that lived there thousands of years before us. This landmark was the perfect spot from where we could see the statue of Zalongo which was built in the memory of the women and children who chose freedom over their own lives when they were faced with the harsh reality of living without freedom. Their actions spoke volum despite having been taken place more than 200 years ago. After that we drove to the other side of the mountains and we arrived in the city of Parga, a little coastal town with a whole lot of history to discover. Upon finishing the guided tour of the Venetian Castle it was time for us to emjoy the rest of the afternoon walking alongside the very long and clean beach. Even though the sight of the clear sea and colourful houses made it hard to think of anything else we couldn't help but remember the time when we cleaned the beach in Preveza of all the human made trash that was left behind being reminded once again just how big of a difference caring for the environment can have on the ecosystem and consequently on out own lives.

28.03.2024

Thursday was very nice. Early in the morning we plantes olive trees at a new square of the town,  Later we went to the Nicopolis to see the ruins of the old theatre. There we sang traditional songs and danced on the stage. 

We also visited a museum, where we saw ancient greek artefacts and deepened our understanding of greek history and also the lifestyle of old times. After visiting these sights we had lunch with the families of the hosts. It was an opportunity to create new connections and spend quality time with our colleagues in the program. The lunch was an energy boost for everyone.

In the afternoon we visited the Management Body of Amvrakikos gulf and later we all met up for dinner. It was emotional, knowing it would be our last night spent together, as the next day many students were headed home. We made sure to have as much fun as we could, although the farewells were emotional.

29.03.2024

Every day of this project was just magical, but today it was mesmerising. We received our diplomas as it was the last day of the project and all of this ended with goodbyes and tearful eyes. A bit later, most of us went on a sailing trip in order to discover the biodiversity of the Amvrakikos Gulf. It was a picturesque view, filled with clean water, peace and silence and a feeling of freedom. We saw some dolphins which enchanted us with their presence, putting on a little show for us. Then two turtles surfaced from the depths just to say "hi" to us. We wanted to spend more time discovering the nature with its unique animal species and mountains wich surrounded us. In the evening, we went to discover the city of Preveza as we did every other day.